Boulder Running Company will be better with sale, co-founder Mark Plaatjes says

Boulder Running Company co-founder Mark Plaatjes, a world champion in the marathon, will remain with the company.

BOULDER — For nearly two decades, the Boulder Running Company has been one of the best places in the world to buy running shoes and other gear for the sport. That won’t change with its recent sale to a division of Gart Companies, co-founder Mark Plaatjes said Friday.

Plaatjes, a Boulder physical therapist and gold medalist in the marathon at the 1993 world championships, founded the company in 1996 with fellow South African Johnny Halberstadt. Plaatjes didn’t want to sell when Gart came calling, but Halberstadt did.

“Johnny wanted to retire,” Plaatjes said. “We got an unsolicited outside offer, and it was either I match or sell.”

That said, I’ve seen how Gart runs its other specialty stores and I believe they will be smart enough to let Plaatjes manage BRC in the way customers have come to expect at its stores in Boulder, Littleton and Colorado Springs.

“It’s a very good company,” Plaatjes said. “There’s so many things they can do to help the backroom stuff — the inventory, our systems, our computers — that will improve our efficiency and give the phenomenal staff that we have more time to spend with our customers. I think that’s going to improve significantly. They’re not intending to change anything at the store — the staff, how we do things — so that’s a good thing.”

Plaatjes will continue his PT practice in a clinic upstairs from the Boulder BRC location. He also will continue to spend two days a week working in the store as he has for years, putting runners in the best shoes for their needs.

“We’re pretty excited,” Plaatjes said. “I’m not going anywhere. It’s what I do, it’s what I love doing. They’re buying something that is doing phenomenally well, and they don’t want to mess with that.”

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